Italian President Sergio Mattarella has summoned law professor Giuseppe Conte to the Quirinal Palace at 17:30 on Wednesday. The League and the the 5-Star Movement (M5S) have said they want Conte to the premier of the coalition government they intend to form. It is up to the head of State to choose who should get a mandate to form a government.
Italy has been in the hands of outgoing Premier Paolo Gentiloni's executive since the inconclusive March 4 general election. League leader Matteo Salvini and 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Luigi Di Maio said they were sticking by Conte after several doubts were raised in the media about his CV, including the nature of a study experience at New York University it refers to.
"Today the third republic has started" Di Maio said. "I had said so, I had promised," he continued. "Obviously, the president decides, but if he has been summoned...".
The 'first republic' refers to Italy's post-war political establishment that was brought down by the Tangentopoli corruption scandal in the early 1990s.
The second republic refers to the political set-up that followed.
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